Don't be. With good maintenance, chances are slim that a new fish will kill your stock. If you are worried, have a quarantine tank ready for any stock you buy.

Well I actually only have one betta and I've had him for over a year and he hasn't gotten me sick...But now I'm worried about any bettas I get in the future, like after my current one. Not only am I afraid of myself getting sick, but now I am actually extremely depressed to learn that pretty much every pet fish I will ever have will have this illness :..(

Well I actually only have one betta and I've had him for over a year and he hasn't gotten me sick...But now I'm worried about any bettas I get in the future, like after my current one. Not only am I afraid of myself getting sick, but now I am actually extremely depressed to learn that pretty much every pet fish I will ever have will have this illness :..(

BB, I hold you responsible for this. Please refrain from frightening our members.

Finn, there are people out there who have kept fish for 60 years and have never had any problem like this. As long as you practice good fishkeeping and keep the water clean, the likelihood of this happening is extremely slim. The fish who have been affected by this are unusual cases and we don't know why they got sick.

This makes no sense to me, not everyone has MT right now, even you yourself said only a lab can tell you what you have. I don't think you can look at a scratch on a fish and say it is Myco and not something completely different.

I saw this daily on hundreds of fish. I have a pretty good idea of what it looks like, where it presents and the earliest signs of it. Do you think I just woke up and decided I was an expert? I was made TOO knowledgeable from what I saw daily, in lots of fish, for months.

No need to believe me. Do the research. And read the scientific papers and not an opinion on a web site. Matter of fact, find someone doing research with it and send them an email.

Believe me.. this is the last thing I want to have any experience with.

Basement Bettas ~ Breeder of Show Bettas
Currently ranked first in 2013-2014 Season
Nationally ranked 3rd in point standings 2011-2012
Nationally ranked 5th in point standings 2012-2013
Regular contributor to Flare!
Co-Founder BettaSource

Well I actually only have one betta and I've had him for over a year and he hasn't gotten me sick...But now I'm worried about any bettas I get in the future, like after my current one. Not only am I afraid of myself getting sick, but now I am actually extremely depressed to learn that pretty much every pet fish I will ever have will have this illness :..(

Hon, all fish has a strain of Myco. Good maintenance, a heater, a filter with cycled media, and plenty of care will keep this from ever affecting your fish. Don't be worried. If you take care of you pet, he will be fine.

Well I actually only have one betta and I've had him for over a year and he hasn't gotten me sick...But now I'm worried about any bettas I get in the future, like after my current one. Not only am I afraid of myself getting sick, but now I am actually extremely depressed to learn that pretty much every pet fish I will ever have will have this illness :..(

This is exactly what I was concerned about in my earlier post... it is because of the overall feel of the thread and first few posts that people get that panic, what do I do now? feeling... :/

Finn, don't stress about it, I've known people to have fish from these large chains that live for 3 years or more, so all in all, there's not that much change in the status quot. This is just about a disease that is dangerous, but I don't think people should be flipping tables bout it :/

Quarantine. Yeah I do that. But then some who have it won't show symptoms until months later, so really, how is QTing helping? Then, if 70% of fish are affected, anyone who has more than one fish has a very high chance of having an infected fish. Also, most people on this forum don't have the money to buy separate things for all their fish. I sure don't have the money for 5 vacuums, 5 test kits, 5 EVERYTHING for my 5 fish. And also, most people don't have something to disinfect that will actually kill it. So chances are, if you have one infected fish, all of your fish have been exposed. It can kill in days or months or years, and you really don't know if they have it until after they are dead. Are we running in circles, here?

I am probably jinxing myself, but I have owned 6 bettas in my life and the first one died from jumping out of the tank... Not disease. I still have the other five. All the symptoms listed make it sound like my VT has it... But then again, it could be anything and he also is getting old. So the only way for me to know if he does have it is if he dies. And in any case, all my other fish have been exposed because I only have vinegar and bleach.

There seems to be no solution, and I read this entire thread and the link. Everything points to another "what if" but not really any fool-proof solution.

No offense, but I prefer not to go off the misrepresented meanderings of a PhD, as it is usually the undergraduates doing the work for them. People working towards a degree doing research to get out of school. I work closely with a lot of PhDs and debunk a lot of what they say. I stated my credentials before. I AM a lab technologist and my research is pure when it comes to bacterial/viral infection. I do have a slight semblance of information that I put out. But I would like to know, besides google, what research you have done. Then you compare it to what I do for a living.

It is not google doing my research. Google led me to those in the field. I have asked them and they have answered. I have papers written by those I have talked to published in the trade magazines. I would think if they were a farce, the scientific community would debunk them. And the research is supported by research done in other counties. I have spent a lot of time reading research papers.. and then directly questioning those that wrote them. I'm sure Dr whipps work will stand on its own. I do not doubt what you do. I know what I was told was the diagnoses. I know what I have been told is the solution. I know what I had in my fish room. I also know what DID NOT get rid of it. Research has led me to believe what I was told to be true. I'd be very curious to read some of your papers that show where the information I have received is false.

Basement Bettas ~ Breeder of Show Bettas
Currently ranked first in 2013-2014 Season
Nationally ranked 3rd in point standings 2011-2012
Nationally ranked 5th in point standings 2012-2013
Regular contributor to Flare!
Co-Founder BettaSource

Hon, all fish has a strain of Myco. Good maintenance, a heater, a filter with cycled media, and plenty of care will keep this from ever affecting your fish. Don't be worried. If you take care of you pet, he will be fine.

As long as they are not exposed to a more pathogenic strain of the mycos..

Basement Bettas ~ Breeder of Show Bettas
Currently ranked first in 2013-2014 Season
Nationally ranked 3rd in point standings 2011-2012
Nationally ranked 5th in point standings 2012-2013
Regular contributor to Flare!
Co-Founder BettaSource

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